Akiko Kiyama: Feuertanz – new EP from one of Japan’s best known female techno artists

Akiko Kiyama is back with a new 12″ out on Tokyo’s Gabriiela and the samples are already up on the label’s Soundcloud page! After several more experimental releases (some under her Aalko pseudonym), Ms Kiyama returned to her deep, beautiful and minimalist techno sound with last year’s A Thousand Silver Arrows EP and now she takes it to a whole new level yet again. The first track, Feuerkind is actually from 2011 and was released on a digital only Earthquake charity compilation, but it is a standout tune even in her discography, especially due to the extremely smooth use of an traditional African song sample. That one has a definitive uplifting feel, complete with a bit of a tribal touch, Hunter on the other hand is much more on the cold and menacing side. On the B side we get two remixes for Feuertanz, one by Quietjackson (aka. Kiyokazu Hamawaki, the label’s co-owner), who turns the tune into a wonderfully twisted frenzy of swirling sounds and one by Liiebermann, which is actually the joint project of Hamawaki and the label’s other owner Kota Suzuki (aka. Ko-Ta).